I bet you guys are all waiting for the smut to begin :-P Well, the wait is almost over. Almost. Just some fluffy stuff this chapter because Dani and Garrus are finally together again. Yay! Keep the reviews coming as they make me very happy. It's such a nice feeling that all the energy put in this story is rewarded by the fact that you guys, my readers, enjoy this little ride. So thank you all for sticking with this little fic! And yes, I blatantly ripped dialog from the game!
How about that talk?
By the time the Normandy finally left Earth, night cycle had started. Dani would have to wait till the new day cycle to meet up with old friends and new faces. She learned that Joker was piloting the Normandy again, which filled her heart with giddy joy. She was briefly introduced to the Normandy's AI, EDI but after her experience with or well, as the Controller, it would take her some time to get used to the AI.
Tomorrow she would see Joker and Dr. Chakwas again and Shepard would introduce her to the new faces. The crew's quarters was vastly bigger and better than on the previous Normandy. There was more room anyway since the new Normandy was almost double the size of the original. She now even had her own room.
When she took off from the Torque residence, she only had the clothes she carried on her back with her. A nice excuse to do some shopping soon. Since there was nothing to unpack, all she did was slip off the gauntlets and the belt. She looked at the items, now lying idly on her desk. Her own, private personal desk. Tomorrow she could start testing them if she wanted, without Dr. Torque looking over her shoulder.
Dani turned around and took in the small little room assigned to her. Not what she had become accustomed to, but it was wonderful to be able to sleep in her own bed, without having to wonder if someone would sneak over to pay her unwanted amorous attention. Best thing yet, no other bunk above her, so no more hitting her head. There was the desk, a desk chair, a small table and a cozy looking couch. It was perfect.
She heard footsteps stop outside of her door. She didn't have to wonder long who'd want to pay her a visit at this time.
"Dani, it's me. Can I come in?"
It really was ridiculous how fast her heart started beating, just hearing him call her name.
"Yeah, of course. Door's unlocked."
She quickly moved over to her couch and flopped down. The door swished open and suddenly he was in her room. His armor put away, he was now only dressed in casual fatigues.
Damn, she could feel her eyes stinging and a painful lump formed in her throat.
Two and a half years. It had been two and a half years since she'd last seen him. She didn't count that brief moment when Garrus, Shepard and Liara had freed her from her imprisonment. And now he was here, after all this time and she didn't know what to say to him.
"Sorry," she said after a while. "It's just, it seems like a different lifetime when I last saw you. I see you, but I still have trouble believing what I'm seeing."
"Yeah," he replied softly. "I know exactly what you mean."
The lump in her throat refused to go away, she would just have to ignore it, go on and risk having her voice break down.
"Is this a dream?" she asked, her voice wavering. "Am I really here – are you?"
Suddenly she couldn't look at him anymore. She buried her fingers in her hair, her face in her hand.
All the grief she hadn't been allowed to feel came pouring from her eyes and wretched from her throat. Shattering sobs racked through her body and now that she could finally give voice to the pain she'd felt, she did so wholeheartedly and very loudly.
"I thought you were dead," she cried out. "They told me about the Normandy, that everyone had died. That you had died. And they didn't understand, they didn't want to understand. And though there was always someone with me, always someone watching, I've been alone all this time."
It took Garrus no time at all to cross the space between them. He settled himself next to her and wrapped his arms around her, pulled her tightly against the odd hard planes of his chest that felt so painfully familiar she just started to cry harder. He gently tucked her head beneath his chin and gently nuzzled her, causing his mandibles to catch in her hair.
She didn't know how long he held her like that, but she was pretty sure it was long. After all, two and a half years of pent up pain, grief and fear suddenly came venting out all at once.
"I'm so tired, Garrus," she finally managed to whisper, completely spent and drained. The heaving sobs had subsided to an occasional quiet whimper and she had run out of tears a while ago.
"So tired of everything. Of fighting. There was Alex, always demanding and always pushing. I was so close. So close to just giving in."
"Come here, I know a spot where you can be much more comfortable," Garrus said quietly. He got up and lifted her from the couch. It was just a few steps to her bed. He gently settled her down and quickly removed her boots and socks. Dani watched his sharp talons - she just noticed he wasn't wearing his gloves - catch lightly at the leather of her boots and a shiver ran down her spine. It was not a shiver of dread though. No, not at all. . .
When her feet were bare she caught him staring at them, an odd look on his face. She quickly rolled to the far side of her bed and tucked them under the covers.
"You should sleep," he said whisper-quiet. "I'm sure today was a trying day for you."
"Don't leave me," she pleaded. "Please, I don't want to be alone anymore."
He cocked his head slightly and she found him regarding her with that odd alien look of his. Finally, without words, he took off his large boots, slipped next to her under the covers and pulled her to him. She searched the angles on his body, where she could comfortably wrap her arms around him. She pressed her face against his chest, her neck supported by his arm tucked around her and inhaled the scent that was so him, a mixture of weapons oil, the metallic twang of his armor, some earthy notes and a faint trace of sweat. She'd missed that too.
"I missed you," she whispered after a while. "All of you. It was weird. I've lived with Dr. Torque for years, considered there my home. Then I joined the crew of the Normandy. And suddenly, when I was back with Dr. Torque, I realized the Normandy had become my home. Another home I'd lost."
"Well, you're back now. For me, that's all that matters. I – I missed you too," Garrus whispered into her hair.
"I'm sorry I wasn't here, like I said I would be – You know, that day . . ."
"What happened that day? I've always wondered. I um, I blamed Tali for a long time."
Dani shook her head against his chest. "No, it wasn't her fault. It was mine. Tali was against it from the moment I got the message."
"From Ashley. Back stabbing bitch. . ."
"She . . . I – I don't think she knew what would happen. She was petty, but not evil."
"Don't try to defend her, Dani. I saw it in her eyes when she was escorted of the Normandy. She knew the message was a trap."
"I'm sure she did, Garrus. I just – I don't think she really understood their intentions. It doesn't really matter either way. It happened."
"You're right, it doesn't matter. She's still dead next time I see her."
Dani swallowed hearing that cold edge to his voice. She'd seen it when Garrus rough-handled Alex and she heard it just now. . . In the time they'd been apart, Garrus had changed.
"Why did you go alone with them, Dani? Why didn't you wait for us?"
Dani cringed hearing the pain laced through his voice, even though he tried to hide it.
"I'm not sure. Not anymore," she said quietly. "I was told that Torque scientists wanted to meet up with me and I simply assumed it was Dr. Torque. He's always running from one place to the next. It didn't seem really odd he would ask employees to pick me up. I do remember being surprised and feeling nervous about them being salarians."
"Yeah, we found them. And the Grizzly. You've no idea how I felt when I learned you'd left with them. You were gone and there was no trace, nothing to go on. Except one tiny button."
His voice and his arms pulling her against him just that bit more tightly, said it all. Dani snuggled even closer against him in response. There were just no words to express how good it felt and normal to be with him again. As if she was meant to be with him and no one else.
"The salarians were tricked as well. They thought they had struck a mutual beneficial alliance, but they were merely used as a front and disposed of when they had fulfilled their purpose. Bellerophon was the group behind it all."
"Bellerophon?" Garrus asked in surprise. "I never heard of them. We thought Cerberus or ExoGeni were involved!"
Dani shook her head. "No, it was all Bellerophon, they're just very good in keeping quiet and keeping their existence largely unknown. They are worse than Cerberus. They won't be happy until they find a way to be able to commit mass genocide. With that kind of power, they can dominate the galaxy. If a species resists . . ."
"It was my fault," he whispered. "If I had just kept my mouth shut on Feros. I was the one who gave you away when - "
"Garrus, you couldn't have known. Even if you had said nothing, the Bellerophon agent would have found the link between me and the Normandy eventually. I'm just sorry I fell for their trap so easily. Especially now I know how Dr. Torque lied to me, betrayed my trust. Feels like such a waste of time," she said with a big yawn.
It was quiet for a while and the way Garrus asked his next question, it was clear it had been bothering him.
"He said that you and Alex . . . Is it true?"
Dani didn't know how to respond. No matter how she would explain it, she knew it would hurt him.
"Yes, in a way I guess that's true," she finally decided to say truthfully. "And I'm not even sure how that happened. I'm sorry."
Another quiet moment before he answered, the tone of his voice level and careful.
"Don't be. It's not like you and me were – you know . . ."
"But we were heading there, weren't we?" Dani asked, suddenly feeling very self-conscious.
It took a while again before he replied. "I um, I'd like to think we were, yeah," he said quietly.
"Me too," she whispered. "Alex was just a – shoulder to cry on – at first. The pain of losing you, all of you, it held me back from recovering. After a while they started dropping hints it wasn't normal to feel so attached to someone not human. And then Alex was just kind of pushed to me and I was too weak to fight it. One moment he was still my best friend and the next moment . . . "
She stopped talking abruptly. A nasty memory had floated to the surface.
From the moment they were sort of together, or at least when everyone seemed to expect they were together, he'd started pushing and prodding her boundaries. And because each time her insecurity let her give in a little bit more, he never let up. After a while she'd been able to shut off her mind when he was kissing her, even when he started fondling her breasts. But there was one time he had frantically pulled and torn at her clothes.
She could still vividly remember his hot breath in her neck, his wet lips and tongue on her flesh, the heavy panting in her ear, and suddenly his skin hot and feverish against hers, his hand fumbling between her legs, something hard pressing against her. Her teeth sinking in his skin because he ignored her struggling. The slap across her face. She shuddered at the memory.
"He said you slept with him. Gloated about it, actually."
Dani bit back a smile when she heard the anger in his voice and. . . did she really detect just a hint of jealousy?
"You didn't deny," Garrus continued. "Are you sure about . . . ? I mean, if you fell in love with him, I can understand. You know, him being a bit closer to home and all . . ."
"In love with Alex?" She chuckled sadly. "I never saw him like that. Never even suspected he felt that way about me. But how could I fall in love with him? When his arms felt all wrong, his chest all even and flat, his lips just not right and his eyes just plainly the wrong color? How could I fall in love with him when all I . . ."
She clenched her eyes tightly and swallowed at the lump in her throat. Here she was, right at the edge of that precipice again. Just a tiny step, that was all it would take to send her falling. She took it and hoped that Garrus would be there to catch her.
"When all I wanted was you?" she whispered. He said nothing at first, just pulled her closer to him.
"It's been two and a half years, Dani," he whispered gently. "I never thought I'd see you again. I – I've always wondered what would have happened. You know, if you hadn't disappeared that day."
Dani closed her eyes when he turned his head and softly nuzzled her forehead and sighed content. For the first time in a long time, the arms wrapped around her felt right.
Dani tilted her head back and opened her eyes again to be able to look into his, the soft question unspoken so evidently there. She raised her hand and lightly traced the large bandage covering the right side of his face.
"Does it hurt?" She whispered
"Nah, just when I talk, or smile," he grinned at her. "It won't be pretty when it gets off though. There'll be scars and . . . well, you know, it'll be hideous."
"No, it'll just be you and that's already more than I could have asked for."
He searched her eyes and quietly held her gaze for a while. With all her emotions spent, Dani's eyes suddenly felt so very tired. A small smile curved her lips. She was back on the Normandy, safely in Garrus' arms. All was well in her world and she was more than ready to submit herself to a different pair of waiting arms. The arms of Morpheus.
"So, um . . . Here we are," Garrus suddenly said. "It's been a while since, well um, Noveria. So, what do you think. Is it too late for that talk?"
"Hmm? I thought we got that out of the way first thing?" She yawned and snuggled closer to the warmth of his body again.
"We talked yes, but we didn't have that talk."
"You're not making sense, Garrus," she mumbled.
"Well, I always kind of intended to . . . you know, ask if you wanted to accept me as . . . um, yeah well as your mate – or boyfriend. We skipped that."
Her eyes snapped open. Just for a moment, before they drifted close again, a content smile lingering on her lips.
"If I tell you now that nothing would make me happier than to be your girlfriend, will you shut up and let me sleep? In case you hadn't noticed, today was a trying day for me."
"Like I told you to begin with. You didn't want me to leave."
She tried to smirk but she was too tired even for that.
"That's just because you're the best pillow I've ever had. Not the softest, but definitely the most - "
"Shut up and go to sleep. You get cocky when you're tired," Garrus muttered while he gently tucked her head under his chin and nuzzled the top of her head in affection.
"Didn't your mother ever teach you never to say shut up to your girlfriend?" She couldn't resist. The word made her heart flutter.
"Dani?"
"Hmm?"
"Your – boyfriend – has an order for you."
"Oh really?"
"Yeah. Shut up. And go to sleep."
She snickered and heard him chuckle. Soon after they were both fast asleep.
